The Avenir Collective operates two cafés and a roastery with the aim of making the coffee trade more transparent, fair, and sustainable.

The conversation focuses on collective ownership and the practice of collaborative decision-making. Ruth explains how the collective works, how responsibility and leadership are organized on an equal footing, and what role the community plays in the long-term impact of social enterprises. We learn how Avenir combines impact and entrepreneurial action, how decisions are made collectively, and why cooperation should be based on trust and partnership.

The episode highlights how collectively organized companies promote sustainable consumption while remaining economically stable and creating new avenues for social innovation. An inspiring episode about sustainable coffee farming that shows how to create value together and drive social change.

Foto: Timo Knorr

00:00 – Painting the picture of Avenir: What does Community mean?

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avenir_lg/?hl=de

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

In this episode, we talk with Daniel Überall about the “Kartoffelkombinat,” a cooperatively organized community supported agriculture (CSA) initiative that has been distributing vegetables to the Munich region since 2010. Around 2,000 households receive fresh vegetables from their own production every week. But the project is about far more than food security: the Kartoffelkombinat sees itself as a response to alienation: a space where proximity, participation, and responsibility can come to life.

Daniel shares how an idea grew into a movement that connects agriculture, democracy, and everyday life. He reflects on the challenges of scaling, on communication as a tool for building community, and on what happens when people take their food supply into their own hands.

An episode about empowerment, building solidarity-based structures, and reimagining how agriculture can be organized beyond traditional markets.

00:00 – Introduction of Daniel Überall/Kartoffelkombinat

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kartoffelkombinat

Website: https://www.kartoffelkombinat.de/mitmachen/

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

How do you build partnerships that not only make an impact, but truly strengthen community – sustainably, inclusively, and with joy?

In this episode, we speak with Arnd Boekhoff and Lars Braitmayer from Viva con Agua. For nearly two decades, a global movement has grown around their mission. United by the belief that access to clean drinking water is the foundation for a good life. More than 4.5 million people worldwide have gained access to water, hygiene, and sanitation through their work. But the numbers only tell part of the story.

Viva con Agua works through art, music, and sport – universal languages that open doors, break down barriers, and invite participation. At the heart of it all is a clear intention: to build structures that enable collective responsibility and empower local agency. A community that doesn’t just support the mission but co-creates it. With purpose, with care, with joy.

Arnd and Lars take us inside the evolving ecosystem of Viva con Agua. What does it take to align growth with values? What tensions arise when grassroots meet the complexity of sustaining an organization? And how can we move from speaking about communities to building truly reciprocal partnerships with them?

This episode is a reflection on imperfect action, shared learning and what it means to live a life anchored in engagement.

00:00 – Introduction of Arnd Boekhoff and Lars Braitmayer

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

What if your weekly grocery shop could support your neighborhood, local producers and a fairer economy? In this episode, we’re joined by Johanna Kühner, co-founder of SuperCoop — Berlin's first democratically organized supermarket.

SuperCoop is much more than just a place to shop, though. It's a thriving experiment in community-supported entrepreneurship. With around 1,800 members actively shaping everything from product selection to governance, SuperCoop is a powerful example of what can happen when people come together to reimagine economic participation.

Johanna talks about the early days, from raising money and setting up the cooperative to establishing a fully functioning market where everyone takes responsibility and all decisions are made transparently. We also discuss how knowledge flows through networks, how collaboration can foster resilience, and how this model could inspire others to follow suit. Rather than standing alone, SuperCoop aims to become part of a broader ecosystem of cooperative initiatives that advocate inclusion, fairness and long-term sustainability.

We discuss the concept of letting go of hierarchy, designing systems differently and creating spaces where people can both produce and consume. Johanna shares her insights from SuperCoop and her experience of working in politics at Geno.Digital, offering a vision for a more democratic business future.

This is a conversation about courage, community and the transformative power of collective ownership. Out 7 July, wherever you like to listen to a podcast.

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible. 

00:00 – Introduction of Johanna Kühner / SuperCoop

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

What happens when a community isn’t just part of a business but becomes a force that transforms an entire legal framework? In this episode, we talk to Fabian Gebert about #GenoDigital, a project that empowers cooperatives in Germany to work more digitally, more effectively, and more collaboratively.

Fabian has founded several companies himself, including a cooperative. He works as a strategic advisor to start-ups and co-ops and is active in various NGOs focused on regenerative agriculture and socio-ecological urban development. At #GenoDigital, he and his colleagues advocate for the digital empowerment of cooperatives. What began as a community-led initiative to modernize outdated cooperative law turned into coordinated political advocacy. The result? As of last year, cooperatives have become the most digitally enabled legal form in Germany.

But #GenoDigital’s work doesn’t stop at legal reform or digital infrastructure. Today, it serves as a platform for community-driven innovation, through open barcamps, digital gatherings, and a growing network of actors from across the cooperative landscape. It's about sparking new ideas for democratic participation, diversity, mutual inspiration, and collaborative learning. In short: a community that doesn’t just support, but actively shapes fields, sets new norms, and co-creates the future of economic life.

This episode offers a hopeful blueprint for how collective ownership, legal reform, and community culture can come together, to shape more inclusive and resilient futures.

00:00 – Introduction of Fabian Gebert / #GenoDigital

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

What if we thought of professional football as a way for everyone to share responsibility? In the third episode of Communicorn, we speak to Esin Rager, an entrepreneur, journalist and vice president of FC St. Pauli, about new financing methods and ways to get involved in football.

How do football and community fit together? Having lived on several continents, Esin brings a global perspective to professional football, combining entrepreneurial thinking with a vision of community and collaboration. Through her tea brand, samova, she has long demonstrated how businesses can embody values such as community, communication and commitment to quality, not just in marketing claims but in their daily practice. She now brings this same mindset to professional sports, advocating for models that treat fans as co-creators.

In the world of professional sports, big investors often dominate the financial landscape. Yet Esin advocates community financing, a model that is uncommon in professional football. She explains how cooperative financing empowers fans by giving them a voice and strengthens the club’s long-term development. It’s not just about funding, it’s about building trust, sharing responsibility, and valuing community involvement. In this episode, we explore how social innovation can affect change even within deeply institutionalized systems and why community should be recognized as a foundational element of forward-looking organizational design.

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

Chapters

For more information:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/samova-gmbh-&-co-kg/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samova_official/

Website:

Foto

In the second episode of Communicorn, we explore the work of Utopia – a co-working space in Lüneburg where community entrepreneurship is not just a concept but a lived reality.

Kerstin Blumberg and Corinna Krome, two of the co-leads of Utopia, share the story from its beginnings to the present, revealing what it takes to create a space for social and sustainable entrepreneurship. Today, Utopia is far more than just a co-working space: it’s a network of around 300 members, a vibrant hub for exchange, and a creative space for social innovation. Based on the concept of Community Entrepreneurship (Bacq et al., 2022), Utopia not only fosters the creation of new ventures but also creates opportunities for knowledge transfer and intentional serendipity.

In the conversation, Kerstin and Corinna reflect on the role of diversity and trust as drivers of social innovation. They discuss how the community itself has become a key player and how the utopian vision of a social-entrepreneurial unicorn could become a reality.

Listen to the second episode of Communicorn and discover how Utopia is shaping a community that actively drives change!

00:00 – Introduction of Kerstin Blumberg and Corinna Krome /Utopia

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

Welcome to Communicorn: the podcast where we explore different ways of building and engaging communities.In the first episode, we interview Timm Duffner of the social enterprise "HEYHO" to gain insight into their organizational structure, collaborative practices, and their assessment of impact.

Unicorns or startups that have become billion-dollar enterprises are (almost) every entrepreneur’s big goal. But let’s raise the question: What if we work together and create a community-driven Unicorn?

In the Communicorn Podcast we uncover the roles of social innovation in driving social change. And we ask: What can we learn from them in reshaping the economy beyond profit?

In our very first episode, we welcome Timm Duffner, co-founder and CEO of HEYHO, a social enterprise that employs people with lived experiences to produce high-quality granola. Steffen Farny, one of our hosts, speaks with Timm about HEYHO and how they understand and live the idea of community within their organizational model.

This episode focuses on the role of community in creating inclusive work environments. The conversation highlights how HEYHO integrates empowerment, participatory structures, and long-term resilience into its day-to-day practices. It offers insights into how marginalized individuals can become active contributors in shaping both the workplace and the broader impact of the organization.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction of Timm Duffner and Heyho

Background

The podcast is part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. We want to connect social innovations, social entrepreneurs in an innovation community setting, where we learn from each other, make knowledge and innovative ideas tangible and visible.

Contact

Key Reference

Bacq, S., Hertel, C., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2022). Communities at the nexus of entrepreneurship and societal impact: A cross-disciplinary literature review. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(5), 106231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2022.106231